Bradley Beal thinks Wizards are Eastern Conference's team to beat

Bradley Beal and the Wizards have watched the Cavaliers represent the Eastern Conference in the NBA Finals the last three years, but the Washington guard believes that could change this season.

"I feel like we're the best team. That's just the way I feel," Beal said, via ESPN.com. "I always stand by it because I mean, why would I sit here and say another team's better than my team? I'm not going to sit here and do that. I've got confidence in myself and my teammates and what we can bring to our team and what we can accomplish."

The Wizards, led by Beal and John Wall, will face the Cavs Friday night in Washington. The Cavs enter the game riding a four-game losing streak and center Tristan Thompson could be out for a month with a calf injury.

Wall knows now is the time to strike the Cavs, but he hopes to utilize stifling defense to go with the Wizards' explosive offense.

"It's going to be basically me and Brad leading, not even offensively — we can do that," Wall said. "But it's going to be on the defensive end. Whenever we have lapses against those teams we should beat, it's because we don't get off to a great start. And us being the leaders, we take that defensive approach to the next level, we'll get everybody else to follow our lead."